Hello, I have a problem controlling blinds with DUAL R3. Blinds travel to close position (down) faster than in open possition (up). Most likely due to gravity, friction… Since motor calibration routine measures full travel time only in one direction it is essentially not possible to calibrate it properly.
In my case blinds travel down 22sec and up 25sec… Calibration (manual) is started by pressing a calibration START button and blinds start by going down. When they reach the lowest position I press the external switch. Blinds start to go up and calibration timer starts. After 25sec, when blinds reach top most position I press external switch again and thus signalling end of calibration timer. Blinds reverse dirrection again and after 22sec reach bottom position (since they travel faster down). Motor stops due to a blinds’ lower limit and position of DUAL R3 remains at 8%. When I press “up” blinds will travel to 100% but will not reach the top, since they only travel 92% of total travel time. After the next “down” signal blinds will reach the bottom in 19sec since they didn’t start to travel from top possiton. And they will sit on the bottom for 6sec. And so on and so on.
Due to that, I can not use DUAL R3 for controlling blinds. Althou a simple SW update, which would include motor control calibration with seperate up travel time and down travel time calibration, would solve this problem.
I’m open for any other suggestion that would hlep me solve described problem.
thank you for the detailed description, we haven’t received a case like yours but your requirement makes sense, has been forwarded to the development team.
I have, exactly, the same issue.Somebody erroneusly thought that traveling up and traveling down are identical and this is never the case in any instalation.
The only way to control blind /awning motors is by time i.e. graduate the travel up and down (they are different as you said) by time delay before switching off. All these motors are graduated their end of travel by (electronically or mechanically) the installer when fitted. Basically they just keep turning until switched off so they cannot have a 100% travel.
Hi.
Bit of a work around but I managed to resolve this issue by introducing a ‘door relay sensor’
I have some rf zigbee devices in the house with a sonoff hub and placed sensor and magnet top and a second magnet bottom.
I then created a scene to turn off the blinds motor when the door relay closed.
Like I say, it works for me but would certainly be easier and cheaper to just allow separate timings for up and down.
Exactly, just like (for example) Shelly 2.5 has. This update is not so complicated and I believe Sonoff will prepare a new version soon. Othertwise I will have to Shelly.
I dont have this problem, it works right. In auto calibration mode it open/close fully at least once.
But… percentage is not accurate because when blinds starts from closed there is a gap till the blinds starts to move
It could also be useful a bypass mechanism of the calibration. There are some industrial / Comercial blinds that require to use and external relay because of the power requierements and in that case we can not use Dual R3 for those cases cause it keeps asking calibration and the consumption of the motor is offline from the point of view of the Dual R3.
I installed a regular reed switch in the engine circuit, which is attached next to the curtain and at the bottom of the curtain, and attached a magnet. I think the opening sensor will provide a delay for operation. but this is all, as was said, a workaround. But it shouldn’t be like that. when you buy a target device, you expect a quality product. And in your version, I need to install a lot of opening sensors, because each family member has a different sleep pattern.
Hello. contact Sonoff representatives. Will there be any specific answer on this matter??? I just don’t have the strength to endure this disgrace!!! I wrote to support, but there was silence in response. Is it really that difficult to update with a fix???
Not clear that there is a universal solution here, apart from using contact sensors as you say.
As I understand that it will depend on the motor manufacturer to have the ‘capability’ on the native remote to be able to bring into automations.
I don’t know, maybe it’s a language barrier, but I didn’t understand what you wanted to say at all. There are no alternatives, all you need is new firmware with a completely new approach to engine calibration!!! But sonoff simply does not care about the wishes of its clients!!! I am sure that it would not be difficult for such a company to develop firmware with corrected functionality, but for some unknown reason, they do not want to do this!!!
Don’t know what you mean by language barrier, but anyway I am not referring to whether Sonoff want to /can modify their firmware.
I’m simply referring to the general difficulty with tubular blind motors…in the sense that if, for example, I buy 2 identical motors by some manufacturer and fit them to my salon window (2m high) and bedroom (1m high) I will have to set the cut-off point. Originally this was done mechanically but now most have an electronic setting, done by the remote. This point is rarely a ‘capability’ which can be used in automations, the motor simply switches off when it finds it.
By language barrier I mean that Google does not always correctly translate the meaning of what is written. I don’t use motors that are built into the curtains themselves. I have a homemade curtain drive and the problem is that the force, and therefore the speed of raising and lowering, is not the same. while this - the existing calibration is designed for the same time for lowering and raising the curtains. it needs to be done so that you can manually specify how much time it takes to raise and how much to lower. This is a kind of timer and I think there shouldn’t be any complexity in order to implement it.
OK, that’s a different kind of motor as to what I am referring to, which is the typical tubular motor (Somfy etc) that goes inside the roll tube of curtain, blinds or shutters.
Different user case…can’t help here.
Best of luck
